In order to determine a mass flow composed of bulk material, in particular grain, which is conveyed by means of a continuous, circulating conveyor, having planar conveyor elements, from a lower bulk material receiving area to a higher bulk material delivery area, in which the bulk material delivered by the conveyor is redirected by a guide surface disposed in the bulk material delivery area toward a measuring device, it is known to determine the mass flow through the measurement of a force exerted on a sensor surface of the measuring device.
A method of the type specified above is known from EP 1 169 905 A1. EP 1 169 905 A1 describes a conveyor having a continuous, circulating conveyor chain, on which conveyor paddles are disposed. The conveyor paddles throw the bulk material located thereon in the redirection point toward a housing enclosing the conveyor in the bulk material delivery area. The bulk material flows along the inner surface of the housing and is deflected toward a sensor surface of a measuring device. The measuring device is configured to measure the centrifugal force applied to the sensor surface by the mass flow. It is possible to derive the mass flow from the measurement of the centrifugal force. The method known from EP 1 169 905 A1 takes the particle size of the bulk material into account in the determination of the mass flow. With the delivery of the bulk material from the conveyor paddles by the throwing thereof toward the sensor surface, different speeds are reached that are dependent on the particle sizes.